GIRL BUNTING 303 



The effect of this warning sound on the young is very 

 striking : before they can fly or are fit to leave the nest, 

 they are ready, when approached too closely, to leap like 

 startled frogs out of the nest, and scuttle away into 

 hiding on the ground. Once they have flown they are 

 extremely difficult to find, as, on hearing the parent's 

 warning note, they squat down on their perch and 

 remain motionless as a leaf among the leaves. Often I 

 could only succeed in making them fly by seizing and 

 shaking the branches of a thorn or other bush in which 

 I knew they were hidden. So long as the young bird 

 keeps still on its branch, the old bird on some tree 

 twenty or thirty or forty yards away remains motion- 

 less, though all the time emitting the sharp, puzzling, 

 warning sound; but the very instant that the young 

 bird quits his perch, darting suddenly away, the parent 

 bird is up too, shooting out so swiftly as almost to elude 

 the sight, and in a moment overtakes and flies with the 

 young bird, hugging it so closely that the two look 

 almost like one. Together they dart away to a distance, 

 usually out over a field, and drop and vanish in the 

 grass. But in a few moments the parent bird is back 

 again, sitting still among the leaves, emitting the shrill 

 sound, ready to dart away with the next young bird 

 that seeks to escape by flight. 



This method of attending and safe - guarding the 

 young is, indeed, common among birds, but in no 

 species known to me is it seen in such vigour and 

 perfection. What most strikes one is the change from. 



